{"id":21,"date":"2019-12-17T22:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T06:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/?p=21"},"modified":"2020-09-05T15:28:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T22:28:32","slug":"the-best-ways-to-fall-asleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/?p=21","title":{"rendered":"The Best Ways to Fall Asleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
It can be hard to catch those zzz’s, so here are some tips<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
  1. Reverse Psychology<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    By lying in bed and forcing ourselves to do nothing but stay awake, we can actually reduce anxiety towards sleep and fall asleep sleep quicker.\u00a0 This is due to the \u201cparadoxical intention\u201d factor in our brains as it gives us a new task to focus on instead of putting all our energy into sleeping.Save your bed for just sleeping<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Save your bed for sleeping<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When we associate our bed with other things, like TV,\neating, doing homework, or thinking anxiously about not sleeping, it becomes\nreally hard to do the thing it was meant for in the first place\u2013 sleeping.  Doing homework at a table, watching TV\ndownstairs, and keeping meals away from those sheets are all methods of\n\u201cstimulus control,\u201d and you\u2019ll find yourself going right to sleep in no time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Release the mammalian dive reflex<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our mammalian ancestors had something called a dive reflex,\nwhere when we dove into cold water, the shock to our system lowered heart rate\nand blood pressure.  We can imitate the\nsame scenario by dunking our face in ice-cold water.  This gives our nervous system a reboot and\ncan stop anxious thought processes in their tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Bubbles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We all can remember blowing bubbles when we were\nyounger.  Now, bringing back that\nchildhood nostalgia can help us sleep. \nRachel Marie E. Salas, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University School of\nMedicine cites it as \u201ca deep breathing exercise, which helps calm your body and\nmind [\u2026] it can also take your mind off of any potential sleep thwarting\nthoughts.\u201d  So, dig through your garage\nfor a tube, or head to Target (because now you have an excuse to go) to get\none, and bubble your insomnia away!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. Give Acupressure a Whirl<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unlike acupuncture, which uses needles, all you need for\nacupressure is a pressure point and a finger. \nThis method stems from Chinese medicine and uses the theory that your\nbody is filled with a flowing energy network. \nBastyr University gives these 4 pressure locations to induce sleepiness:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Press on the small depression between the brown\nfor a minute<\/li>
    • Press on the depression between the first and\nsecond toe for a few minutes until a dull ache is felt<\/li>
    • Press on the distance located 1\/3 of your foot\nback from your toes for a few minutes<\/li>
    • Massage the ears for a minute<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      These tips are backed by science, although some of them may work better than others for you and your lifestyle.\u00a0 I know I\u2019ll certainly be implementing these methods the next time insomnia hits me hard!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Source used: \u201c15 Science-Backed Ways To Fall Asleep Faster.\u201d HuffPost<\/em>, HuffPost, 29 Sept. 2016, www.huffpost.com\/entry\/15-ways-to-fall-asleep-faster_n_55dde3e7e4b04ae497054470.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Reverse Psychology By lying in bed and forcing ourselves to do nothing but stay awake, we can actually reduce anxiety towards sleep and fall asleep sleep quicker.\u00a0 This is due…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[14,4],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","tag-science","tag-sleep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moleculesatmidnight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}